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Fernando Torres happy to take blows for Liverpool

Tony Barrett

September 18 2009, 1:00am, The Times

There are professional boxers who have suffered fewer black eyes than Fernando Torres in recent weeks.

Four shiners in a month is the present running total, leading to inevitable suggestions that the Liverpool centre forward is either coming in for some rough treatment by those charged with stopping arguably the world’s most dangerous attacking player or — more simply — that he needs to protect himself better.

The man himself is not fazed by his sudden proclivity to pick up the kind of injuries more usually associated with the ring than the pitch, however.

For Torres, it is just part of the inevitable rough and tumble that comes as standard in what he considers to be the most competitive league in world football.